Africans reacted angrily over ‘racist’ Trump remarks

Vastavam web: Africans have reacted angrily after US President Donald Trump reportedly referred to their nations as “shithole countries”, with many accusing the US president of racism and ignorance.The 55-nation African Union condemned the remarks yesterday, while a statement from ambassadors of all countries from the continent at the United Nations demanded a retraction and apology.Ambassadors unanimously agreed the resolution after an emergency session to weigh Trump’s remarks.

The comment was “clearly” racist, said Ebba Kalondo, spokeswoman for AU chief Moussa Faki.Trump reportedly demanded to know why the United States should accept immigrants from “shithole countries”, after lawmakers raised the issue of protections for immigrants from African nations, Haiti and El Salvador.”You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes’ whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights office, told reporters in Geneva.Botswana summoned the US ambassador to the country to “clarify if Botswana is regarded as a ‘shithole’ country”, according to a foreign ministry statement calling Trump’s comments “irresponsible, reprehensible and racist”.Social media users across the continent posted images of modern skylines and beautiful nature from their countries with the hashtag “shithole”.

“First stop would be Osu Castle, Elmina Castle, and the over 40 Forts that detained about 30 million slaves, beaten and shipped out like sardine cans and then I will tell you the history of Africa and why people like you made that a ‘shithole’ continent.””Please don’t confuse the #shithole leaders we Africans elect with our beautiful continent… Our motherland is the most blessed continent that has been raped by imperialists in collaboration with our shitty misleaders for generations,” wrote Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi on Twitter.In South Africa, the ruling African National Congress party declared “ours is not a shithole country” and described Trump as “extremely offensive”.”African countries, and sometimes our leaders, do not exactly deal with the problems of the worst-off, that’s what makes people immigrate”.

Even war-torn South Sudan weighed in, with President Salva Kiir’s spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny slamming the comments as “outrageous”.However Juba businesswoman Jenny Jore, 31, told AFP that Trump’s remarks were “on point”.The 54-nation UN African Group, which does not include Western Sahara, demanded a “retraction and an apology” from Trump, while thanking Americans “from all walks of life who have condemned the remarks”.